Back in Villahermosa, we let our fingers
do the walking from the comfort of our Hilton Hotel room and found a place
that specializes in clutch repair. They had never worked on a Land Rover,
but it turned out that these guys were real mechanics, so it was no problem.
They were really great, and Dave did a swell job at bridging the communication
gap. Once again, we'd be in a world of hurt without Dave.

8/3/97, Villahermosa--

Dave told the mechanics that
we had to get back to the states for a wedding (our wedding!), and they
came in to help us on a Sunday. Went to the mechanic in the early A.M.
He already had the gearbox disconnected. We helped move it up and out
of the way. The operation went well, but the seats and center section
of the seatbox needed to come out. Once removed, we inspected
the clutch disk.

Sure enough, it showed signs
of motor oil contamination from the rear main seal. From what I’ve been
told (thanks Bob Bernard and Granville Pool), the rear main is a real
pain—so we’ll replace it when we return. It’s really a tired motor but
it gets us where we need to go. Especially if we stay close to sea level.

These mechanics are great.
They don't mind Todd and I in our monkey suits "helping" either. In the
states, most mechanics wouldn’t tolerate us in their garage area. Not here.
Liability isn't an issue.